The Back Four: All-Vibes Team, April Edition
Breaking down last month’s unsung stars, plus the usual deep dives into the Championship and League One
Welcome in to The Back Four!
Before we start, check out Backheeled for a deep dive into the USL Championship, including Birmingham’s new look under Mark Briggs, Orange County’s revival, and much more. You can also find This League! on the site for an audiovisual dive into the week that was.
Without further ado, let’s get to it.
All-Vibes XI
Matt Levy (GK, Charlotte)
In April, Levy posted minus-0.84 goals prevented, ranking second amongst all League One goalkeepers. He also picked up 12 saves – including five during a Jagermeister Cup win over North Carolina – in USL competition, anchoring the Independence at the back. Levy’s ability to replace Austin Pack was the biggest question facing Charlotte this winter, but the 25-year-old hasn’t missed a beat in 2025.
Stuart Ritchie (LB, Knoxville)
One Knox has a million players deserving of praise this season, but Ritchie’s consistency at left back cannot be overlooked. He entered the weekend leading League One in crosses while having been dribbled past just once. Within a Knoxville system that’s muscular through the midfield, Ritchie provides a crucial sense of drive and transitional responsibility from the sideline. Ian Fuller’s team is full of standouts, and it’s Ritchie’s explosiveness that elevates them all.
Carlos Guzman (CB, Monterey)
You won’t find a USL center back pairing much better than Guzman and Nico Gordon, and it’s Guzman’s ability to cover space around his partner while also bearing the burden of initiation that makes him special. The Monterey star entered the weekend playing 40% more passes per game than Gordon, while also doing things like this:
Here, Monterey’s press doesn’t stop opposing New Mexico from advancing, and Gordon chases an opponent upfield. When the hosts try to play over the stepping defender, Guzman instinctively knows when to rotate and clear the ball. There’s a reason he ranks in the 86th percentile for takeaways this year: Guzman is Monterey’s anchor.
Talen Maples (CB, New Mexico)
While I wrote this blurb, Talen Maples probably just completed a dozen more passes. Only one player in the USL has completed more attempts than the 26-year-old, who camps out at halfway and helps New Mexico dominate possession at a league-best level. To imagine Maples as a boring circulator isn’t right; he’s got a nice ability to drive passes between the lines when the moment arises, and he’s excellent at positioning himself to stop transitions even when United is in full 2-1-4-3 tilt.
Oscar Jimenez (RB, Tormenta)
35 years young, Jimenez has formed a real connection with Mason Tunbridge up Tormenta’s right, and it makes South Georgia a challenging team to match up against. Ian Cameron’s side is at their best when Tunbridge can explore, and Jimenez supports that freedom with heady contributions from right back. The former LouCity stalwart is winning 70% of his tackles this year and posting 4.5 recoveries per game, and he went 22-for-25 as a passer in the recent Jagermeister Cup win over Greenville. That’s the sort of consistency that makes a difference.
Diego Mercado (CM, Miami)
I’ve got a major soft spot for Miami, who won four of their five matches in April if we’re counting penalty heroics in the Jagermeister Cup. Diego Mercado made it all tick from the central midfield. Mercado posted an 86% passing accuracy last month and put up a genuinely insane 7.8 defensive actions and 9.0 recoveries per game. Miami plays a very open, expansive style, but it’s the sense of control wrought by Mercado that keeps them steady where it counts.
Luka Prpa (CM, Naples)
Though he created merely five chances last month, Luka Prpa feels like the king of the hockey assist for FC Naples. Prpa blurs the lines between a No. 8 and No. 10 in the Matt Poland system, allowing teammates like Jayden Onen and Karsen Henderlong to pop as more advanced runners. The former RGV man’s body positioning in the press and speed of thought as a passer are invaluable, and they make a defensively stout Naples side a potent force going both ways.
Stefan Lukic (AM, Tulsa)
FC Tulsa continued to build up their contention bona fides in April, and Stefan Lukic – who had played just six minutes in March prior to a start against Forward Madison in the Open Cup – was key to that process. Lukic picked up two goals and an assist across multiple wins, headlined by a staggering long-range strike in Las Vegas. Even as Tulsa has strengthened their squad with splashy new attacking signings, Lukic’s secondary hold-up play alongside Taylor Calheira makes him invaluable.
(And yeah, I’m cheating putting Lukic in the midfield. I do not care.)
Wolfgang Prentice (FW, Oakland)
With three league goals last month, Prentice made his impact known on the scoresheet, but his value goes beyond the numbers for an Oakland team that’s as reliant on energy as they are on talent or tactics. Prentice feels like a perpetual motion machine, always searching for space and interchanging with his fellow forwards in the Roots’ 5-2-3. While Jose Sinisterra is the most defensive member of the attacking line, Prentice – who played wingback during his League One loan spells – is always one to put in a shift. There’s something about Wolfgang Prentice’s game that’s fun, and that counts for something.
Woobens Pacius (FW, Tampa Bay)
Pacius also got three goals last month, and he represents the best of a Tampa Bay team that’s struggled to get results in 2025. What I love about Pacius is his relationship with Manuel Arteaga. The longtime USL forward loves to explore and often drops in for deeper touches, and Pacius has learned to complement him with advanced shoulder-of-the-defense predation. It makes for a potent mix, and it’s allowing Pacius to get more dangerous touches that let him showcase a hammering right boot.
Matt Bentley (FW, Chattanooga)
No player in League One bested Matt Bentley’s 2.7 xG last month, and the Chattanooga forward added an extra 0.6 xA on top of it for good measure. The Red Wolves run a gritty 3-4-2-1 that never gives away an easy pass, and Bentley is the spearhead of that shape. He understands when to tuck underneath a pressing teammate to help deny space, and he’s equally heady as a mover in possession. If Chattanooga remains on the playoff bubble, Bentley will be a major reason why.
Las Vegas, aight?
Don’t look now, but the Las Vegas Lights are up to sixth in the West after knocking off first-place Loudoun this weekend. Las Vegas also has posted just 0.79 xG per 90 and boasts the second-worst expected goal difference in the league, but I’m here to argue the numbers aren’t a big deal.
Antonio Nocerino’s Lights are chameleonic, adapting to their surroundings with aplomb. I broke down what that meant in the context of the Loudoun win in detail on Backheeled, so I want to focus here on the starkly different victories over Orange County and Antelope Valley that preceded it.
In the OCSC match, Nocerino rolled with a 4-2-4 shape the expansively deployed wingers Christian Pinzon and Joe Gyau in attack before dropping them into a hexagonal 4-2-2-2 press. Las Vegas held 45% of the ball in the win (besting their season-long average in the process) and made it excruciatingly difficult for Orange County to work between the lines into their most dangerous creators.
When I call Las Vegas chameleonic, this is what I’m getting at. This team leads the USL in clean sheets because they’re willing to pack it in; their average defensive action comes 36.5 yards upfield, dead last in the division. That depth makes it easier to maintain structure and deny space, but the outing against Orange County was defined by eschewing said depth.
You see it above. Right off the bat, forward Valentin Noel closes to an opposing center back atop the high 4-2-4, supported by Pinzon. OCSC plays over the first line, but the players in behind don’t waver. Central midfielder Christopher Pearson covers wide to fill for Pinzon, and Pinzon reacts by sliding inside to cover for Pearson. It’s textbook rotation.
The hosts still manage to squeeze through, but they’re walking a tightrope amidst a flood of charging Las Vegas defenders. By the time Orange County gets to the doorstep of the final third, center back Maliek Howell steps to cut out a pass and re-assert Lights possession once and for all.
The Lights’ approach in possession was fascinating in its own right. When I said 4-2-4 above, I meant it: Nocerino pinned his fullbacks impossibly deep in order to maximize space upfield for the wingers.
Here, you’re seeing left back Gennaro Nigro’s heatmap, with the vast majority of his touches coming in the defensive zone. Nigro took 59 touches in this match, and 11 of them resulted in long balls that moved the Lights from their own area into the opposing half. It might not’ve been sexy soccer, but it resulted in three points.
The contrast couldn’t have been starker against Antelope Valley four days later. In that game, the Lights changed out 10 of their 11 starters, completely re-thought their approach – they held just 27% of possession against a lower-tier opponent! – and still came away winners.
The main shift, obviously, was an increased willingness to sit without the ball, but it’s useful to examine the altered role of the fullbacks as well. Shaft Brewer and Shawn Smart formed a high-speed combo on the left and right sides, respectively, and they were allowed to dribble far more often than Nigro and Younes Boudadi just days earlier.
That’s on show above. Initially, Alta presses in their typical 4-1-4-1 and pushes their attacking midfield extremely high. Brewer is seen high upfield, in stark contrast to the Nigro heatmap we just examined.
As soon as Antelope Valley overcommits, however, Brewer is wide open. Nocerino designed his lineup choice around Brewer’s ability to pick up the ball in those sorts of spaces and advance on the dribble. That’s what he does here, and it quickly creates a four-on-two break up the left side. Las Vegas would earn a quick 1-0 lead in this match and never look back because of similar transition moves – the goal was to attain an early edge and then sit in, and it was executed flawlessly.
The xG numbers might be dismal, but they’re a result of the drastic style. When you park the bus, you’re naturally going to invite shot attempts en masse. The real challenge is to limit their quality. Entering the weekend, Las Vegas had conceded just 18 shots on target in league play. 27% of total shots against the Lights ended up on net, the third-lowest rate in the Championship. I’m not saying the xG is a mirage, but it doesn’t paint the whole picture for a team that never allows easy opportunities.
A team that can only operate in the low block isn’t going to be very successful. That’s Las Vegas’ baseline mode, but it isn’t the whole story. I’m not here to say Las Vegas is a title threat, but any team that doubts the Lights’ quality and versatility does so at their own peril.
Richmond-Greenville
Never one to miss an opportunity to make an ass of myself, I wrote in Backheeled last week:
Nostradamus, folks.
More seriously, Friday’s match in Richmond showed just how good the Triumph can be on the front foot, particularly with a confident Zakowski leading the way. Richmond never made it easy, but Greenville showed why an up-and-down start shouldn’t bother the faithful in South Carolina.
The Kickers didn’t stray far from their usual blueprint, pressing in a familiar 4-1-4-1 in which the dual No. 8s were key. Nils Seufert actively adhered to Chapa Herrera, while Chandler O’Dwyer could either match him by picking up Carlos Anguiano or diverge by pushing forth to press an opposing center back, as seen above.
That arrangement let Richmond control the game out of the gates and initially seemed to frustrate the visitors. A quick goal for winger Joshua Kirkland helped the cause, of course, but Richmond was primarily successful because they stemmed the tide of Triumph build.
What changed? Not much, at least on the home side. Greenville simply trusted their process and allowed Herrera and Anguiano to set the tone from deeper areas until patterns started to come together. Meanwhile, Evan Lee – cast as a second striker recently – showed off a midfielder’s instinct for movement and helped the Triumph to vary their passing game to keep Richmond honest.
The result? More space to move, and more opportunities for players like Zakowski and Lee to bend the Kickers to their will. Above, that means Lee is making a run toward the right sideline and dragging Dakota Barnathan (the holding “1” in the 4-1-4-1) out of position. Lee’s movement opens a counterbalancing run from Zakowski toward the inside, and suddenly Greenville is in business in zone 14.
This play doesn’t actually work. The interchange is good, but Zakowski’s touch is heavy and backwards. An ensuing pass into Leo Castro is controlled somewhat heavily as well, meaning that a follow-up run from Anguiano out of the midfield goes wanting. Still, the blueprint is obvious – and it set Greenville up for two goals in quick succession before halftime.
The first began with Anguiano and Herrera deep, leveraging the overeager attacking midfield line to patiently buy space up the middle. Anguiano would eventually be able to dribble upfield, finding a low-dropping Castro (a la Evan Lee in the example above) to help link play and work behind. 1-1, thanks to the midfield movement and the fact that Zakowski had cut inside to open up the far post.
The second goal was somewhat more direct, but it spotlighted Zakowski’s confidence on the end of a sizzling run between Klaidi Cela and Max Schenfeld. Zakowski was only credited with six pass completions on Friday, but he weaponized himself as a mover while consistently getting back in partnership with Evans. The result? That pair held Richmond’s talismanic Darwin Espinal to a single shot attempt.
Would you like to see more chemistry from Ivan Agyaakwah and his teammates in the back four? Sure, but Greenville held Richmond to their exact xG average in the run. Neither Nils Seufert and Espinal could consistently impact the match. The Triumph are figuring things out all over the pitch, and it’s eventually going to shape them into a contender.
Louisville’s compactness
LouCity is brilliant at, well, just about everything. Their press is immaculately organized, and their possessive patterns are fluid but immaculately structured all at once. Players like Arturo Ordonez1 and Taylor Davila are unmatched in their ability to stabilize up the middle.
Amidst all the quality, it’s easy to miss Louisville’s defining feature: they make the pitch tiny.
Regular readers will know that Danny Cruz runs a 3-4-3 most of the time, and they’ll know that said formation allows LouCity to dominate defensively. This season, their 1.06 xG against per 90 mark ranks third in the league. In actual terms, they’ve conceded a wildly stingy four goals in seven games. That aforementioned compactness makes it happen, and it also supports Louisville’s attacking patterns.
Consider this play, which starts at the feet of defender Sean Totsch as he first-times a pass toward a teammate. LouCity is in their standard shape, with their wingbacks flexed high into more of a 3-2-5 as Totsch receives from Davila.
The ping-pong passing play that ensues as Totsch first-times a pass toward the right is wonderful, but note how small the distance is between center back and striker. By my reckoning, it’s about 34 yards from the point of confrontation held by Totsch and the position taken up by Jansen Wilson and Sam Gleadle inside the box.
Because of that compactness, Louisville can execute on quick passing plays and easily transition into the counterpress. In the example, they flood of bodies into a tight space and overwhelm the Lexington defense, allowing for a side-to-side move that nearly ends with a Wilson finish at the far post. Sequences like these happen about a dozen times per match at Lynn Family Stadium.
The Lexington win highlighted just how good this team is at tilting the pitch. Louisville almost always decides where the game is played, and it forces their opponents out of their comfort zone.
Take the graphic above from the essential USL Analytics account over on Bluesky. LouCity’s average defensive action came 46 yards upfield, 15% higher than the league average in 2025. Because they were able to compress and maintain such an elevated defense presence, Louisville also forced Lexington to back off. The guests underperformed their average defense action height by a full 12 yards!
It’s terrific stuff, and it’s at the core of what makes Louisville so special. This is a very extreme way to play the game, and it’s a humongous credit to Danny Cruz that his team makes it look so natural.
For the birds
It’s fair to say that Union Omaha and Forward Madison are still in the feeling-out phase of the season, and Saturday’s nil-nil draw proved as much. Omaha didn’t put a single shot on goal, and their hosts mustered just eight attempts overall. This was a game that was light on attacking events but heavy on tactical intrigue – largely because these teams run ostensibly similar 3-4-3 systems.
Madison’s ability to disrupt bounce passes into Laurence Wootton and Max Schneider in the Omaha pivot stood out. At the heart of Matt Glaeser’s midfield, John Murphy and Jose Carrera-Garcia look better and better every week, rocking *NSYNC dye jobs while flexing into a 5-1-3-1 in the press by virtue of their high/low give-and-take. Carrera-Garcia alone put in 15 defensive actions on Saturday!
In the face of that alignment, Omaha remained patient. They out-possessed Madison, and their average pass traveled merely 6.5 yards upfield all the while. An “oops, no strikers” front three of Aaron Gomez, Mark Bronnik, and Joe Gallardo helped in the cause by regularly dropping low to pick up the ball in the face of the Madison press.
That setup came with trade-offs. The attacking trio did well to maintain possession and shepherd play from back to front, but they weren’t as impactful in the final third. None of Bronnik, Gomez, or Gallardo completed a pass into the box.
Kemy Amiche brought far more sharpness as a second-half sub, and he helped change the dynamic. Omaha upped their long-ball share from 6% to 11% in the second half, allowing their forwards to take up better positions. Amiche, who put up two key passes and four crosses while dominating the right halfspace, was key to that calculus and ultimately Omaha to muster a solid 1.1 xG in live-ball situations.
Madison was even less successful in terms of xG and total shot attempts, though they at least forced Rashid Nuhu into two saves. They faced down an Omaha side whose 3-4-3 was more focused on driving play into the wide areas and trapping from there – with a dash of central defensive zhuzh backing it all up.
In this case, you see Omaha’s front three applying face-up pressure in the opposing box. Meanwhile, center back Samuel Owusu is allowed to step from the back three to track the all-important Derek Gebhard, Madison’s left winger.
Madison loves to use Gebhard and fellow attacking mid Devin Boyce as channel outlets. One or both can drop low, receive on the turn, and either lay the ball off to a lingering No. 8 or look further ahead to an advancing wingback or forward. Omaha’s center back deployments were designed to deny those patterns.
In this instance, the ‘Mingos reject the skip pass into Gebhard and work more patiently into their pivot in the center-right pocket. Omaha bends that way in response, and there’s suddenly a hole that Madison can leverage. Striker Juan Galindrez drops in behind the advancing defenders, and by the time he picks his head up, both Gebhard and wingback Nico Brown have wrong-sided Owusu on the run.
Dion Acoff is ultimately in position to make a stop, but it’s a nice example of Madison working through their offensive reads to break toward the final third – and a fitting encapsulation of how Omaha and their hosts cancelled one another out. Fascinating stuff, and it sets the table for plenty of tweaks when these teams meet again in early June.
Quick Hits
In other news this week…
Samory Powder’s bar-down volley against Spokane was the best goal scored all week if the metric is “play that made John yelp out loud.”
You can check the USL Show’s socials for my video breakdown of El Paso’s derby win over New Mexico, but I’m in love with what Wilmer Cabrera did tactically. The gritty 4-3-3 the Locomotive used this weekend nullified the USL’s best possession team and resulted in a bucketload of dangerous counters. If we had a “Most Improved Player” award, it would go to Gabi Torres in a rout.
Reading into week-by-week attendance numbers is a silly habit, but it’s a big deal that Oakland got back above the 10,000 mark with Sacramento in town on Sunday. I’ve praised the Roots for their community-first ethos time and again, but it’s making a world of difference at the Coliseum this season.
Park Chan Wook’s Decision to Leave is one of the best movies of the decade, and it finally landed on Hulu after a few years of streaming weirdness. It’s beautifully shot and brings Hitchcock levels of tension to the table; I’ve never seen a movie use phones and texting more smoothly.
Related: Director Park’s The Handmaiden is the best movie of the century so far, straight up.
Cover Photo Credit: many team websites with player headshots
It’s remarkable how much less attention Ordonez gets in Louisville compared to his Pittsburgh days. The stats aren’t as impressive, but that’s by design. Ordonez is LouCity’s safety net, and he’s responsible for making high-leverage interventions when that compact shape fails. There are less of those opportunities in a sheer numerical context, but each of them is important.
Powder’s goal was beautiful. It was impressive that he was able to connect so well with the ball given the proximity of the other attacker and defender which impacted his tracking of the cross.